


You Are My Sunshine

by Blitzwing_Liebe_97



Category: Transformers: Prime
Genre: F/M, Implied Mpreg, Implied miscarriage, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-10
Updated: 2017-12-04
Packaged: 2018-03-29 20:24:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 12
Words: 12,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3909430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blitzwing_Liebe_97/pseuds/Blitzwing_Liebe_97
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Megatron was captured at the end of the battle for the Nemesis. Optimus Prime, in all his great wisdom, concocted a discipline to better keep a close optic on the fallen Terror of Kaon. But what will come of the mighty Megatron, when everything he knows, suddenly means nothing, and thing she once knew nothing of becomes everything?</p><p>I wrote this with a great friend, chapters in the future may show a difference in writing style and personality, she'll be writing chapters and portions as well as myself. This story was born of a handful of "what if's" when we found out we both had a flare for TFP, and it's been a slag ton of fun since then. Hope you guys enjoy, and if not, then I'll leave you to the mercy of G1 Unicron. ^3^</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Waking Up

He remembered how he must have looked.

Optics heavily shuttered, audial receptors online, processor fuzzy, vents and cooling fans roaring just to keep his engines from offlining from overheat. No one had ever imagined how truly helpless the Lord of the Decepticons could look, even after such an epic battle. 

Megatron was pulled to his pedes, dented and scratched and chipped, his optics opened and onlined after a moment, fixed steadily on Optimus Prime. 

Optimus saw no reason for Megatron to die unarmed. Being locked and guarded in this brig must have been Prime’s idea of mercy. If his intake wasn’t in a trap, he might have laughed. Even the scout, Bumblebee, didn’t seem as nervous around the warlord now. 

But it was only a few megacycles of this. Then he would be imprisoned in Iacon. Probably tortured in whatever horrific ways the Autobot Elite Guard could think of.

Tired, and not in the presence of anyone who should care, he shuddered at the thought of his fate.

\-------

“Destroy him. Scrap his frame. Just don’t keep him on Cybertron.”

The words echoed off the walls. The order left all who could hear it in shock, even Megatron was surprised by the sentence. Though he was in warframe-grade stasis cuffs, and so was incapable of showing the expression. Execution, not by the hands of the young Prime. Torture, more than expected. Imprisonment, an obvious choice. Exile, it hadn’t even occurred to the warlord. The world he had fought for. His punishment was fitting in that light.

“I…” Optimus Prime was at a loss for words, “Yes sir.” 

And that, was that.

\-----

Megatron, still in stasis, was moved to the same ship that had returned him to Cybertron. The crew in charge of him, a blue-and-red mech and an old medic with a bad temper.

“Thank you, we’ll take it from here.” Prime nodded at the mechs who had moved Megatron, who then left and the three who remained were left to stare blankly at each other.

“Well Prime, might as well get off world and then decide what to do with him.” Ratchet said wearing an almost proud smile.

Optimus nodded and followed the EMT to the bridge. 

“What do you think we ought to do?” Ratchet looked at the young mech.

“I do not know… he is a flight frame, if we were to leave him, he could simply fly away.”

“We could always adjust his coding, so he can’t disobey.”

“Is truly that ethical?”

“Dunno, is he worth our good manners?”

Optimus sat, no clue what to do as the ship left orbit. “Perhaps we should, as the humans often say, sleep on it?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“Do you remember my friend, tales of a mystical place where biology and technology were as one?”

“Pool of Transformation. An old femme’s tale to keep new sparks from wandering too far from a city. Why?”

“Have you ever considered if such a place could exist?”

“Now you’re starting to sound like Orion Pax again.” Ratchet chuckled lightly to himself.

“Answer me Ratchet, I am curious.”

“Oh come now Prime! That’s creation play!”

“Perhaps, but there are many truths hidden deep within the folds of legend.”

Ratchet sighed, “When I was a mechling, I did often made adventurous exploits in search of the Pool, but of course I never found it, it doesn’t exist.”

Silence fell between for a short while, as both considered the possibilities of the place’s existence. After a few moments of the thoughtful, imaginative quiet, both agreed that it was ridiculous to muse such topics, and, setting the ship to hover, went to recharge.

Megatron however, afforded no such comfort, latched to a cold medical berth but hard light, held in warframe grade stasis cuffs and his processor kept at a low function for safe travel and easy containment purposes, all he could do was stay still in his discomfort and listen to his thoughts, which sounded steadily more intoxicated as he grew weary and uncomfortable, in spite of the dreadful lack of high grade, or any energon for that matter, in several long deca-cycles. In fact, his frame and processor were starting to become so deeply self-intoxicated that thoughts he wished he could be rid of found their way into his conscious.

I wonder if Starscream managed to survive. Probably, that wretch is never good for anything but staying alive and disobeying orders. He chuckled to himself, and put himself into a manual stasis for the duration of the voyage.


	2. Testing

“Optimus, I don’t think this’ll work”

“Then nothing will have changed, old friend.” the large Prime assured calmly as ever, thought behind his battle mask and the heavy duty chest armor his spark was spinning worriedly, if this failed, he would be responsible for killing the most dangerous war criminal of all time. There was no coming back from a screw up like that.

Megatron was still waiting where he had been left. Trying to come up with something to be grateful for. Though he found very little, Starscream was surely going to gather what was left of the Decepticons under his own rule, Optimus had defeated him fairly in battle, and denied him death, now he was either to be left on some worthless under developed planet or be made to live with Prime as some kind of prisone- speaking of under developed planets, his locator systems were blinding his HUD, wherever he was, he’d been here before. Primus how he hated this tiny, organic planet.

“PRIME!” He cried, making his voice deep and loud, the response he got was unexpected but as routine as anything he’d ever heard before.

“Yes, Agent Fowler?” Ratchet laughed at the answer the larger mech had given, Megatron’s optics went overbright as he stared in sheer hate at having been confused for the obnoxious fleshling, Optimus made no notice of his mistake except a slight shifting of his optics, “What do you want Megatron?”

“Why in the Pit are you taking me back to this Primus forsaken rock?!”

“I would rather you stay here under my watch, and in any case, I have reason to believe that this ‘Primus forsaken rock’ has been hiding a secret from us for some time that I would like to test in some form that should make you easier to handle.”

“I see.” the voice was cold and now uncaring as he decided that the Prime could not bring himself to test some wild experiment on a sentient being, even it was the Terror of Kaon himself… but that doctor of his…

Still held by shackles, and in the presence of those who had fairly beaten him, his pride mattered little now, he shuddered at the thought of what that wicked medic might do. 

“Scared Megatron?” the CMO mocked

the slag maker smirked darkly and spoke in as sarcastic a tone as he could manage “Shaking in my stabilizers doctor.”

“Well, we can’t have that now can we? Steady servos do me no good if the subject can’t hold still.”

“Do your worst.” he dared the small emergency transport.

“Ratchet, do not allow him to taunt you.” Optimus warned from the control panel on the far side of the room. “Megatron. I have observed you a great deal for some time since we left our world, you behave in a manner heavily rooted in your upbringing-”

“That’s what upbringing is for Orion. You wouldn’t throw away the lessons your creators taught you just because of war would you?” He teased in a voice unheard for millions of vorns, smoother than that of the warmonger, a voice no one thought he could muster, the voice of Megatronus. It nearly made Optimus sputter, if the younger mech did not have the Matrix he might have fallen for the taunt and made a move to take the warlord then and there.

“-as a gladiator. As it stands, I defeated you fairly in battle, am currently your master of sorts.”

Megatron felt his spark become still, it had been a great many years since anyone had made this request of him, he knew what was coming.

“I will make your exile as simple as I can. But you will be punished for your crimes in a manner you would view a punishment.”

Now Megatron was sure his audial receptors were fooling him, but he said nothing, as he saw very little movement in his favored opponent’s optics.

“Optimus, Teletraan 1 found that signal you wanted…” Ratchet looked utterly astounded.

“Good.” Optimus nodded to his friend and then turned back to face Megatron, “Unless you wish to be humiliated publicly further and taken back to Cybertron, I will suggest, Megatron, that you come without fussing.”

Megatron considered his options. He was currently outnumbered, one of them just happened to be the one who had caught him in the briefest moment of physical fatigue ever recorded and took perfect advantage of it, defeating him in fair contest; the other a deadly medic with skill unmatched in all of Cybertron’s history, who himself had given Megatron quite the servo-full.

“As you wish, O Mighty Prime.”

**

There was a terrible noise that filled the air as the three mechs walked into the old base, Megatron put his servos over his audial receptors as the small human female squealed in delight at the sight of her giant Cybertronian friends.

“Whoa! What’s he doing here?!” She shrieked

“Ah yes, you were the loud one.” Megatron huffed, annoyed at the greeting he had not desired, “I’d honestly rather hear Starscream’s pontifications…”

“Miko, Megatron is here under supervisi-”

“supervision, bah! I am not a sparkling Prime, and neither are the fleshling brats.”

It was quiet for a moment, “He is a prisoner. I am charged with hs ah… exile”

“Better, we’ll make a speaker of you yet Prime”

“You are not supposed to be enjoying yourself you fragging scrapheap!”

“Then you shouldn’t be so enjoyable doctor.” the massive silver bulk retorted with a smirk. This earned him an unexpected electrical surge in his processor, his frame went rigid and he gritted his dentae to attempt to hide the discomfort.

“I must however, take him with me on a journey briefly.” The Prime stated easily, his tone never changing, ever placid.

At this both Megatron and the children looked at his in surprise.

“Well then what the Pit was the point of bringing me here Prime??” Megatron growled, hating more than most thing indirectness.

“As of this moment, that is none of your concern.” He responded with terrifying simplicity, a tone that made Megatron shutup. “Nurse Darby, can you do a rather large favor for me?”

“Me? Of course Optimus.” the woman answered, still in her scrubs from work, “What is it?”

He knelt down and put down his hand, picking her up and taking her to the soundproofed medbay, whatever they were discussing, Megatron figured it was something he needed to figure out soon, anything kept this classified was very interesting.

***

“A cave in the middle of the desert? This is where you’ve arranged for me to stay? You have grown foolish since you became a Prime, but this is ridiculous.”

“That is not the purpose of this place Megatron. Continue or I will replace your stasis cuffs.”

Finding the discomfort and occasional shock of the cuffs a noteworthy weakness in megatron’s endurance was an unexpected but usable fact.

Megatron grumbled something horribly obscene, luckily for the Prime, it was in Kaoni so he didn’t catch all that the silver mech said as he irritably followed his warden.

A pale blue-ish glow emanated from deep within the cave, the smell of… acid perhaps?

Primus below, he;s going to smelt me?! … no… no, he wouldn’t he value life too much for something as pathetically simple as that… “What is the meaning of this?” He demanded as the strange pool came into view and Megatron could clearly see the body of liquid.

“This is to be your punishment Megatron.” Optimus said, quietly, so that the echo would not be as deafening as it wanted, “Get in.”

“To a pit of acid? You must be joking Prime. This is outrageous! There is no way in Pit I’m stepping into that slag!!”

“Must I remind you of the honor you so fervently cling to?”

“Honor has nothing to do with it! I will not willingly destroy my frame in this manner!!”

“I do not wish to combat you in Megatron, but do not think for a moment I won’t if it comes to that. You would not want to lose to me in servo-to-servo again would you?”

Megatron thought about it, defeat a second time by the same Autobot, or do what he wants and get snuffed. At least he had the ability to go of his own will the second way.

“Very well Prime.” He turned and stared at the pool, Since when does an organic world have the ability to produce such pungent acid pits? As he slowly approached, he recalled that the core of this world was the Chaos Bringer himself, so the acid made a bit more sense in that context. 

He had intended to go in slowly, never been fond of submerging in anything, not even hot oil as some of his troops, namely Starscream or Knockout had tried to convince him of its benefits. But, as he put one stabilizer into the pool, he found that it was terribly deep all the way through and fell straight in, letting out a very undignified yelp of surprise as he sunk and felt his frame being eaten away from his spark chamber, which was somehow being maintained. It was awful, painful a burning unlike any other and he begged for Primus to be merciful and deactivate him quickly for all the pain that was so readily engulfing him.

Then, after only a few moment, as he last of his frame was taken, he felt, saw, heard, nothing.


	3. A Whole New World

Vague, blurry, what are they… voices,? Yes, that seems right… voices… voices have to have intakes, which… needs a helm… frames aren’t really… required… but… it helps… what are they saying… awake? … who’s awake? oh, “is he awake”... that makes… more… sense… Who is “he”? … Forget that… where am I? … I … i was dissolved… yes, that’s right, it’s very dark here… I must be in the Pit… no, it doesn’t smell much like sulfur… Surely I am not in the Well… That blasted Prime, he will pay for this uncertainty! 

“I don’t think you understand Agent Fowler, he will be much easier to control this way.” gruff, stern, somehow a bit soothing.

“Yeah and a Hell of a lot easier to lose sight of! He blends in now!” Loud, just plain loud.

“Agent Fowler, do not berate my medic in this manner, this was my doing and I will bear full responsibility.” That good-for-slag Prime

“Besides, we’ve got out of town accommodations for him.” Soft, like the voice of a Carrier, at least this one was pleasant, if not a little unfamiliar.

“That doesn’t mean he can’t go wandering about and wreak havoc!” That loud voice again… sounds male

“He will be under supervision at all times Agent FOwler.” Ah, so the loud one is called AGent… that’s an odd designation.

He tried to online his optics, but they ignored the signal, he let out an irritated exvent, he was sore and tired, and then he recalled that he had been eaten away by acid, so naturally he wouldn’t be able to send frame signals to any part of himself.

…

“But then how can I receive audio signals…”

“Ah! You’re awake,” the gruff, calm voice. The medic perhaps? His designation… Ratchet, that’s right.

“I suppose I am, medic.” He said as coldly as he could manage, though he sensed some distress in his tone, which bothered him, true he was not sure how he could speak and hear in his current frame-less state, but his enemies need not know this.

“Well get up then, you’re taking up space.” Agent said coolly, but with great resentment.

No wait, his designation in Fowler, Agent is his title… “And how do you expect me to do that when my frame has been eroded by the acid of this miserable rock?”

“What? He’s joking.”

“No, Agent Fowler, the effects of the Spring are similar to having your body eaten away by fast reacting acidic components.”

The woman spoke, closer now, it was uncomfortable to hear how close she was to him, he felt something small, smooth, soft and warm press lightly on his shoulder plate. How strange… perhaps my frame is intact. … but that is a human femme. … 

He bolted upright, eyes shooting open “DO NOT TOUCH ME YOU FILTHY ORGANIC!!” He bellowed, his voice sounded odd, his body felt small, and the human was barely shorter than he was. 

The ground shook some, he saw two large familiar silvery pedes, he followed them up and saw that the Prime now stood high over him.

“How in the name of Primus did you get so fragging tall Prime?!” He demanded, “Was this your strategy? Make yourself even more obvious to this tiny planet?”

“Look at yourself Megatron.” Optimus answered coolly

“I know what I look like- get away from me human!” He ordered, the female took a defensive but indignant stance, she wasn’t going to leave, but she backed down. Insubordinance. Disgusting refusal to follow simple instruction. That’s what made these things human. Even worse the higher up in society they were. 

He looked again at the towering Prime, there was something reflecting in the mirror-y edge of the massive pede not far from him. Another blasted human. Worthless those things, and far too many of them. This one was … male, a man was the human term. He had short mud colored hair, and burning crimson eyes. He wasn’t young, but not yet old, and his physical prowess was clear. He could take on a decent opponent. And he was staring directly back at Megatron from that pede.

“...No…” He moved his servos slightly, the reflection did the same with his arms. “No… no…” he walked closer to the huge foot, and the reflection grew larger and closer as well “Primus below NO!”

“I think he’s taking it well.”

“Ratchet, this is not the time for smart comments.”

Megatron stared at himself in horrified disbelief. Rage. Terror. Hatred. … Loss. Everythign he knew, melted away in that pit and became… soft, and fleshy.

They were speaking to him, or maybe just about him. He couldn’t tell. It was all vague noise blurs behind him. All he could make sense of was his sight, and the image before him, and even that was bleak. 

“I’m…”

“You are human Megatron. As I said, your punishment is something that only you could truly see as a punishment.”

He said nothing in return, bringing a hesitant, shaking hand to his cheek, stubbled lightly. He kept the next thought to himself, knowing he was broken now. This was all it took to bring the great Terror of Kaon to his knees. Take away his Cybertronity. He was gone.

***

He hadn’t spoken another word, simply nodding and looking up when he felt he was needed to acknowledge. He watched the Prime transform and was more or less shoved by Fowler into the passenger seat. That was fear, to be so easily overpowered by a noisy human, and then to be trapped in the seat of his hated former-friend.

The place seemed so much larger now, he didn’t like it, had no idea what to make of it. It was so strange, almost terrifying. 

The truck stopped. “You may get out now Megatron.” 

He fumbled with the door for a few moments, before Optimus seemed to take some kind of pity on him and opened the door for him. He stepped down and looked around him, there was a small building, a shelter unit.

“This is where you will stay. Ratchet and I will be able to come here and … check up on you occassionally. You will not need to go into Jasper, we’ll take care of your necessities for you.”

He nodded and went in. Shutting the door with a loud and heavy thud. At least he could see clearly how that was meant to function.

He felt so hollow and meaningless. He moved forward, looking at his new surroundings, strange devices were everywhere, nothing in this horror house made sense. Then he found the berth, it was made of a material that came from one of the plant life on this world. Wood? That sounded right, it was also in the middle of a room with other pieces of metal and technology.

“If there was metal for these why is the berth made of this organic junk.” He chastised the intelligence of this planet’s inhabitants and left the room, preferring the floor to the earth-stuff. 

He found the door by which he had entered the small house and leaned his back against it. It felt very late, but the single sun of Earth was still in the sky. He slid down the wall, looked around him in hate that was slowly melting into helpless despair, pulling his knees up to him, and folding his arms atop them, he hid his face from the building, and, for the first time since Orion had betrayed him those millions of vorns ago.

Megatron cried.


	4. Nothing

“What’s he doing?” was the greeting, annoying, but at least it wasn’t the loud PRIIIME! that he used to call out so often.

“The same thing he has been doing for the past two orns Agent Fowler.”

“A hermit huh? Kind of odd, you’d think he’d find something to do. Keep his hands busy.”

“He likely is planning a way to escape and get his hands back Agent Fowler. This is a concept that was only used once by one of our kind and did not properly transform his entire frame anyway.”

“One of your kind has been turned human before?”

“Mostly human, his pedes didn’t quite make it out just right.”

“Ratchet, old friend, have there been any messages from Cybertron?”

“Nothing yet Optimus, we told them only to call us if there was a problem. No news is good news.”

“You have grown fond of the idioms of Earth.” Optimus said blankly, the tone Ratchet knew to be a vague show of affection.

“Yes of course I have, when you spend all of your time using human networks you will grow connected as well.”

“I see, perhaps we should see how Megatron is faring?”

“Same as always, why would you want to visit him?” Ratchet looked up at his friend, honestly a little confused.

“I wish to ascertain that he is adjusting, he and I were once close friends, I do still worry for him quite often.”

Ratchet looked at him, as did Fowler, they watched him carefully, unsure, concerned. He looked back, confused about their strange stares.

“Alright, let’s go then.” Ratchet agreed after a few moments, “Nurse Darby, if you’d be so kind as to join us.”

“Of course, may I ask why?”

“He broke the camera in the washracks, he could have been harming himself and if he is, you’re the human medical expert.”

“RIght, makes sense.”

***

He was finally getting the hang of that blasted razor, a few cuts on his chin under that disgusting stubble, but for the most part he was doing alright, he had gotten a bit lazy and decided that the tiny hairs needed to be purged from his face. 

The ground shook some, causing his grip to shift, he dug the thin blade into his cheek and let out a shriek of surprised pain. The red stuff that insisted on spilling out of every tiny puncture in his loose pink armor irritated and frightened him. But it smelled like metal, so he did very little to stop it. It was… familiar.

“What the Pit was all that?” he looked outside and saw some very unwelcomed figures, so he quickly ran to lock the door.

“We can’t exactly go in there Optimus, and I highly doubt he’ll come out or let June go in.”

“I assumed as much, I was prepared for such a contingency.”

“I’ve got the stuff you wanted to give him, Optimus.”

“Many thanks Nurse Darby.”

The knock on the door brought Megatron from his current activity of trying to stop the substantial bleeding from his new wound from that stupid razor which had thrown away, deciding to find a new way to control the stubble.

“What.” He demanded at the entrance, not opening the door.

“I’ve got something you need.”

“I don’t need anything your puny, miserable species can offer.”

“Optimus’ orders.” the voice came sternly now, as if she were trying to discipline the Decepticon leader, when he didn’t respond for a time she added “You know he could literally squish you if he were so inclined. Ratchet could too, and he doesn’t seem to have any reservations about keeping you in check so far.”

“I haven’t done anything!” The CMO answered indignantly.

Megatron considered it, being crushed would probably be terribly agonizing in this body “Fine.” He grabbed the rag he’d been using to staunch the thin but persistent flow of stuff down his cheek.

He came to the door and opened it, holding out his clean hand for the item the Prime wanted him to have, took it and smirked as he shut the door again in her face, which showed an expression of surprise at the bloody cloth.

He looked at it, a file of something, it felt like soft wood. Smelled like wood too, but with something else, sort of like paint. He opened the folded paper and watched in honest surprise as the papers held within scattered to the floor in various paths.

“Primus below, what is this?” He muttered to himself as he bent down to grab them back up, “What are these… symbols… some language, pathetic primitive script. How disappointing. Soundwave would be able to read it. ... “ He let out a sigh, “Soundwave, I sincerely hope you are searching for me, or at least controlling Starscream in my place.”

He attempted to make sense of the paper he held, studying it closely before throwing it down in frustration and laid back down to continue his long day of boredom.


	5. Blackout

The storms this planet produced were not as angry as those he remembered on Cybertron, he took a strange kind of solace in them, he sat on a small patio like rock, facing up, eyes closed. Feeling the rain strike his face was in some strange way soothing, he would have enjoyed it a bit longer, had an annoying sound not caught his attention.

A squealing, helpless noise. He’d been here, “under supervision” for three of this planet’s years. A miserable existence. But he’d heard many of the sounds that came from his surroundings, and this was not one he knew, it angered him, he did now like not knowing what was going on. He ignored it for a short while, but it became persistent, and when he recognized the sound of a car driving away, which he realized he had not noticed under the noise of the rain, he stood and followed it.

Dark was falling, the air turning horribly cold in the desert air and rain, he thought it strange that it could rain here and yet still manage to be so dry.

Again the needy, squealing, metal grinding cries fell on his ears. He didn’t like it, and set himself to locate and silence the source.

There was a fallen tree, it had been broken by a lightning strike a few months ago, those dry storms were more common, but still not nearly as vicious as the electron storms or acid rain of Cybertron. He decided to look under the fallen log and foliage, pulling dead leaves out of the way and knelt down into the building pool of mud. There was a box, not very large, but big enough that it was difficult to hold up in one hand, the weight within it was uneven and the noise coming from the box had become quiet and afraid.

For some reason, the fleshy equivalent of his once burning spark went still at the hushedness of the tiny thing. He carefully lifted the small piece of soft but wet fabric out of the box and nearly shrieked for surprise at the sight of the tiny human sparkling. For a moment he was lost in a storm of unbearable confusion and misunderstanding, then he remembered the rather desperate sounding zipping away of the car that had left not so long ago, and his mind instantly clouded with anger. He had no connection to this new spark, and no reason to feel this way that any of his allies or enemies could ever come up with even if given all the time Primus had lived. But even Orion Pax had not known the full of the story when he met Megatronus, so how could anyone else have known that Courier Unit D16-N05 was the first test of the many drones that had once made up his own vast army? Or that he had been abandoned by his creators and considered a failure for the low capacity of his spark? 

He picked up the squirming tiny bitlet, and looked at it. Its optics were the same burning red as his, it was pale and its hair was as white as the thick clouds that drifted overhead on nice days.

He stared at it for a moment, both under the relative cover of the fallen tree, then decided. He covered it from the rain and went into the shelter, making a beeline for the phone he picked it up, and looked around for a moment to find the small paper that had the comm channels he could contact if something unusual happened, and this definitely classified under “unusual”. He tapped in the digits, nothing. He pressed the receiver down and tapped the buttons again. Nothing. He flipped the light switch and started looking around. Then realized that the lights didn’t come on. He looked around, and flipped the switch more. Getting a little angry as they refused to obey his command.

“Insubordinate slag!” He roared, jumping back as the switch let out a frightened squeal of surprise. It was a moment before he caught on and remembered that there was a sparkling in his arm, the source of the cry. 

“I suppose…” he began softly, “You will have to stay with me until the power returns.”

The little creature stirred in his arm, trying to look at him directly, he allowed it, if only to wonder at the eyes that so closely matched his own.

***

Megatronus sat up, tired sore, but warm and somewhat pleasant. The weight against his servos was one he had familiarized.

“Orion,” he chuckled “You really should online.”

“bolt off.” was the muffled response.

“Now, how do you expect me to do that if you’re still on me?”

He rolled over, only to fall off the small berth, groan, blame the large silver mech and fell back into recharge on the floor.

Megatronus laughed brightly, “We have things to do today Orion, get up or I’ll leave you here alone.”

He jumped to his pedes, hated this place, Megatronus didn’t blame him, though of course, Orion didn’t have the same kind of hate for the arena that he had, a trappedness, no matter how much so many tried to convince him he was not a gladiator at spark, he knew himself well enough to know that this was, at least until this so called “Golden Era” was ended and reformed, the only place he could belong.

“And once we’re done there, I want to speak with you.” He added, knowing how much the data clerk hated waiting, hoping the promise would spur him on to move a bit more quickly.

“Really? What about?” He rolled his joints, ready to go.

“Not here, and not until later.” Megatronus shushed him, changing the topic, “Soundwave will be joining us today.”

“Oh? He seems alright, very quiet though, don’t you think?”

“He took a vow of silence long before I ever met him, something about some kind of integrity I think, you know he’s the only mech in this blasted arena I can’t beat easily,” he added, considering the weight of his words, “A mech I’d rather have at my back than my throat any orn.”

“Yeah? I’ve never seen him,” Orion admitted with a smile, “I’m glad to meet a friend of yours.”

Just at that moment a striking mech bearing a display screen over his faceplates and a helm crest that resembled a crown appeared and joined the two with a brief but spark felt bow to Megatronus.

“Hello Soundwave… Yes, this is Orion Pax.”  
Orion looked up at Megatronus, confused as the thinner mech hadn’t spoken a word, “Orion, it will be much easier for you to communicate with Soundwave if you allow him to hardline.”

“O-oh, certainly.”

A message appeared before the young mechs optics Greetings Orion Pax “He-hello.”

Megatronus smiled and continued walking, today was going to go very well, he could just feel it. The Senate would either A) understand and step aside with ease, accepting that necessity of the situation or B) be destroyed by his own servo in the name of justice.

But the feeling became something like dread as the capital city Iacon came into view, something in his spark turned sour, as if something were now destined to change, in a way he had not planned, which was a ridiculous thought! He’s brought with him his two most trusted friends, and he knew what was to be done. There was nothing that could fail.

The doors to the great senate building opened.

**  
Megatron jumped awake with a shout of anger. And was quickly shut up when a louder, frightened cry exceeded his own. The tiny, pale human was squealing in a horrifically unpleasant manner, and, for some reason, he would later blame it on organic Creator protocols, he sat up, picked up the thing and held it to his chest in hopes of silencing it. A brief thought passed through his mind, a familiar, nearly happy thought, and he squashed it immediately.


	6. Then There Were Two

The miniature beast was loud and soft, if he hadn’t been so concerned about crushing it and receiving some sort of discipline, he might not have attempted to care for it at all. Might. There was something, tiny, unyielding, and wholly impossible to blame on this new body, in the back of his mind that told him to figure out what it wanted. 

At nearly ten a.m. there was a knock at the door.

“It’s about time you got here!” he boomed, knowing already that it would be the Darby woman, he set down the squirming human and opened the door.

“It was only one night, you’re as bad as Ratchet.”

“I am in no mood for your attempt at conversation, doctor.” Megatron snapped, “A situation for which I have no understanding has arisen.”

The idea of Megatron so quickly admitting some kind of defeat was all it took to wipe the smile off of the nurse’s face, “What happened?”

A whine, followed quickly by loud wailing was her answer.

“ARE YOU KIDDING?!”

“I do not appreciate humor, doctor. I do not ‘kid’” He said, face remaining placid as he turned and walked to lift the screaming thing off the berth he had attempted to make for it using some rolled up towels and a bedsheet.  
Nurse Darby stared, shocked at the tenderness of the embrace, though it was obvious that Megatron was either trying to hide it, or was entirely oblivious at how absolutely darling he looked cradling the child to his chest as if it were his own child.

“What are you staring at.” Megatron stated, more than said, looking at her. 

“You look very acclimated to holding an infant, considering.”

“Ah, that.” He was very stoic in his reply, daring not reveal anything, lest she relay the information he had once hoped to surprise Orion Pax with.

“Not going to tell me why?”

“Not in a thousand of your lifetimes.”

“Well at least you’re being honest with me.” She smirked, of all the expressions he had seen on this woman’s face that was the only one that he could accurately identify, she was amused and impressed, and often used some level of sarcasm to tell him so. He’d rarely gotten any less from Starscream.

Her comm unit, a “cell phone”, as she called it, rang loudly, again startling the child. He glared at June for a moment as she answered it.

“Hello? … No, no, everything’s fine… just have a … little surprise.”

Megatron realized he probably did look too comfortable holding the young human, and he thought it strange that this coding seemed to transfer to this fleshy body he wore.

“Well uh…” She looked at him, “Where did you find it?”

“I believe it is female.” He stated simply, “I found it under a tree in the rain.”

She looked stunned and quickly moved to take the child out of his arms, worried about her health, but Megatron, much to both their surprise, moved his arms, not allowing her to take hold of the oddly quiet thing.

Again she showed her shock at him, “I’ll call back Ratch.” she clicked the phone shut and stuck it into her pocket. “Alright, what’s going on? I’m a medic, remember?”

“True enough.” He handed the girl to June, and walked away, thinking to himself in silence.

**  
A screech of tires told Megatron that someone, probably Optimus, had pulled up very very quickly.

Megatron, who had been speaking fairly easily with the nurse, stepped outside, and nearly laughed at the surprised expression on the face of the Iaconian warrior.

“What…. Megatron, where did you…”

“I found i- ah, her.” he said, still holding the baby to his chest.

June came outside as well, “It’s alright big guy, she’s fine.”

“I can see that but- … I do not understand.” He knelt down and look closer and tried to turn megatron so as to better see the child.

Megatron, on some instinct he knew but refused to name, quickly pulled himself away from the servo “You will not take a second child from me Optimus Prime!!” As soon as the words left his mouth he knew what he had done.

Optimus stared, shock, and something like some strange, uncertain understanding crossed his faceplates.

“I am sorry old friend, I did not intend t-”

“Good. I am keeping this little femme.” He asserted firmly, “You will not change my mind.”  
And with that said, he turned and went back inside, shutting the door behind him.

“Do not worry my little spark,” he said softly, giving in for now to the newfound … hope?... he had never felt so strongly. “I will not let anything happen to you. You will be safe with me, I swear it upon my very function.”

A knock at the front door, he realized he had been sitting in his room, still held the girl to his heart, for nearly half an hour, this knock was harsh, sudden, powerful.

He laid the baby down in the little nest of blanket and pillows and went to the front room, opening the door, “Why hello, Agent Fowler.”

“What in the Sam Hill are you doing with a kid?!”

“Ah, that, I should have suspected.” He leaned against the doorway, “Yes, it seems I have in a sense, become a … the human word… father.” He smirked lightly, he was amused by the anger on the man’s face.

“You don’t seem to understand what it is to be a prisoner do you?”

“I am aware that you do not hold me or my army in high respects, but even we allowed our prisoners certain luxuries, bond clan was one of those. At least while on Cybertron, naturally we were incapable of such things after the Exile.”

“I don’t care if you let ‘em have Afternoon Delight, you can’t care for a HUMAN child, you’re unqualified!”

This simple statement, though it may have been a truth, enraged the man. “I am unqualified?! This child was abandoned, in the rain, by its carrier, under a tree! I may not be a learned caretaker, but I am certainly no less qualified than the beast who bore and left for dead my child!”

The glare he gave Agent Fowler was enough to chill a man to the soul, even if his eyes had not been so deep a crimson.

Something rare happened, Agent Fowler stepped back and gave up his end of the argument, “All right, if you think you can handle a child.”

“I don’t like it Optimus.”

“I know Ratchet, but I’m afraid that I can not explain to you why I believe this is the path to allow.”

Megatron heard Optimus over Fowler, “Allow?! You were never a comedian, but that is truly amusing! You allow nothing, Prime, I have chosen and you know better than to think that any choice of mine will be given up whilst I still function!”

He turned once more and slamming the door, went back into his small, and somehow warmer, home. The girl did not cry, but looked at him, and stretched to put a hand to his cheek, as if in comfort.


	7. The Name Game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning for past mpreg and miscarriage

He would never admit defeat to his jailers, but he would likewise dare not claim the task of raising a child alone was easy. Admittedly, he knew he was not alone, while the others did attempt to make some kind of assistance, he trusted none but Nurse Darby to aid him when he was unable to quickly figure out what it was the girl, whom he had named Aleah, needed or desired.

In late March, around half a year, a time measurement that Megatron considered too short to be deserving of a title, after his taking Aleah in.

June was showing him how to care for her in the case she got sick, it was spring after all, and young children tend to get allergies and the like this time of year.

Stubborn though he was, he was truthfully grateful for her help, especially that she seemed bound by the very oaths that even Cybertronian medics lived by to protect the privacy of patients. It was knowledge that she would not share his questions and such that gave the conversation they shared that as easy as it was, although it was not as easy as it very well could have been, had he been another mech, man, whatever he was called.

Aleah was asleep, Megatron sat heavily on the chair in his front room with a sigh.

“Rough day?”

“She is… active.” He admitted with a light chuckle.

“Alight, I want to talk to you, and no one else is around so you can be honest, patient confidentiality and all.”

Megatron looked at her, a bit confused, “Very well.”

“I want to know what you meant when you told Optimus he wasn’t going to take a second child from you.”

His whole body became cold, he’d forgotten since then that he’d said that, wasn’t sure he wanted to answer her, thought carefully about whether or not he would.

She watched the floor quietly, waiting for a reply of any kind.

“I trust your integrity doctor.” He said at last, “But I must ask, before I tell you, are you familiar with how my kind reproduces?”

“Not entirely, no.”

“My race is a vast majority mech to femme. We do not require two separate sexes to procreate, I believe the term you would use for it is… ahh… herma-…. no...”

“I know what you’re saying, keep going from there.”

He nodded, “A very long time ago, even by our standards, I was… romantically involved… with the mech who would later become Optimus Prime, his designation at that time was Orion Pax.”

June surprised herself a bit with a blush at the idea of Megatron and Optimus having been an item at any point in time, but she nodded, still listening.

“The event that began the Great Wars was drawn out over hundreds and hundreds of vorns, but the moments that gave me the urge to begin was a very important date, two things were going to happen that day. I was going before the High Council, Cybertron’s ruling senate, to propose my, admittedly faulty, plan for change. I took Orion Pax with me, I wanted no other mech at my side, as it was, after the meeting, I intended to propose a bond with him, so that he would stay there.”

“And he saw flaws in your plan and cut you off…”

“Precisely.”

“I don’t get it, what does that have to do with a first chil-”

“As I said, we had been romantically involved, I did not know it until after the Exile, but I was at that time, very early in the carriage of Orion Pax’s sparkling. I discovered it, and I did attempt to keep the emberlet safe and healthy. But it could not be helped, I had to return to my home, and gather recruits, I met then with the newly named Prime. You can imagine the incredible battle that followed, my own rage and desire for the title he had now claimed overtook my concern for the, still invisible, unborn. I received a great deal of damage, and retaliated, and as his troops retreated, my frame went into shock, forced emergence from the extreme stress of the battle. Never go into combat whilst carrying, Nurse Darby.”

“I have no intentions of either.” she said softly, watching him, trying to make sense of it, this man who sat before her, staring distantly at the small coffee table in front of the couch, was once in a position similar to her own, pregnant, and the father was gone, but he had never been able to raise the child, furthermore, had lost it at the hands of the very father who knew nothing of its existence.

Even if she knew what to say, she doubted she would be able to say it and sound like she felt anything but pity, and pity was not something that he would accept, she knew that well enough. So they sat in quiet for a while, until he again spoke.

“It has been a very long time since I have thought about my lost sparkling, I to this day do not know if it was femme or mech, if it was a flight frame like myself, or a grounder like Orion Pax, who it would have taken after, I should liked to have heard it’s voice, even just once, it was so small at the time, I had not yet even felt it kick. … I was very much a beast of habit, the rumor that my armies were made of perverted berth creatures began with my own desire for something to take his place, it mattered not who, I even once allowed drones to share my berth. However, I always felt very... “ he dig in his mind for the correct word, “Very alone.”

June looked surprised again at the very strange expression that was on the face of the man beside her, calm, thoughtful, quiet, a little sad, which seemed not to fit him well.

“That’s why you want Aleah so badly.”

“Yes. It may sound overly sentimental, or weak, or childish, but from the moment I saw her, something… changed, perhaps, very like the way I knew things would be after I restored Cybertron’s true Golden Era, I was not so… alone, I felt as though, Primus was granting me a second chance, she has the same opt- ah… eyes, as I do, after all.”

June was stunned, speechless, her mind wasn’t moving fast enough. This man, who had once tried to destroy her entire planet because his was dead, who had managed to deceive Optimus Prime, keep him captive, nearly killed Rafael, destroyed the first Team Prime base of operations, who had kidnapped her child and two others to have a tactical advantage over the Autobots, was now smiling softly at the thought of his deity allowing him something had so long ago desired, something so remarkably human and touching that she wasn’t even sure if she was sitting next to the same man.

She had trouble placing her words in the appropriate order, but eventually found her voice.

“You’ll need a human name you know.”

“Hm?” he looked over the smile now gone.

“If you’re going to take care of her you’ll have to appear in public to be a father, for that, you’ll have to have a human name.”

“Ah, I am not familiar with human names, I do not think I will be a good judge for choosing one.”

“Well then I’ll pick one.”

He looked at her, “I suppose that will be fine.”

“Hmm… How about… Markus?”

“That sounds terrible.”

“Didn’t think so…” She thought for a little while, “Maybe… Henry?”

“I’ve heard that name before, I don’t want to have a name that is terribly common.”

“Fair enough. You’re a very self empowered man aren’t you?”

“I suppose.”

“You don’t seem to let anyone’s opinion stop you.”

“Primus alone may judge me.”

June knew exactly what to call him, “I believe Primus is Cybertron’s equivalent of God, so you’ll be called Daniel. No exceptions.”

He nodded, testing the feel and taste of the word, “I like that designation.”

“You’ll need a last name as well.”

“A what?”

“A last name, surname, family title, whatever you like.”

“For what purpose? Is “Daniel” not enough?”

“Not quite, you need a last name to sign papers and whatnot, for Aleah. There are a lot of things you’ll need it for, so will she.”

“Very well. You may select one as well, if you so desire.”

It took nearly half an hour, he was very picky after he learned about the meanings of the many surnames, he certainly did not want any name that sounded even remotely feminine. After a while, June pulled out her phone and looked up some names, hoping to find something to his taste, or at least that sounded alright with “Daniel”.

“Something strong.”

“I found one, it’s long and a little foreign.”

“What is it?”

“Jorgenson.”

He considered it carefully, “I think it is fitting. Aleah Jorgenson. Yes, I like it.”


	8. Not Bad

Daniel, he had decided it would probably be good to think of himself with that name, so he could properly respond to it, would have been a liar if he had claimed that Aleah’s development did not surprise him. He hated that she so gladly rolled around, indignant he called it, and tried to break of the habit. She would be a femme of action, not words he learned, as she mastered crawling, which he also hated, before so much as a garbled mumbling of anything even remotely close to a word.

This, he found amusing, even though she was not truly his, she seemed to take after him. He didn’t speak much, but he was occasionally made to go to Prime’s base, under the guise of parole surveillance, but he was certain that they did not trust him with the child, where she listened to her surrounding human speak.

On one day in particular, he was nearly tackled by the wrecker’s human, Micah? Michelle? Mabel?  
“Miko be careful!” rattled the voice of the medic.  
Miko, that was it.

“Whoa, never would have thought I’d see anything like this.” She stared at Aleah, in some kind of awe.

“Yes, it is very unusual.” Daniel said without much emotion in his voice.

He looked up as the ground shook some, Optimus was coming closer. He had found himself less trustful of the once close Prime, for some reason, he did not want the mech to come near Aleah. Not that he felt bad about it, he just couldn’t understand the feeling.

“Good afternoon.”

“It’s only 11 Prime.” Daniel said, not even looking up because Aleah had grabbed his ear and would not let him turn his head, “The word you’re looking for is ‘morning.’”

Ratchet gave Daniel something like a warning sneer and turned back to face the computer screen.

With a slightly annoyed exvent, which gave Daniel great pleasure to hear, “Good morning.”

“Well, good morning Optimus Prime.” He replied with a defiant and somewhat proud smirk, “And how are you today?”

“Fine.” He decided that this conversation wasn’t really worth having and stood back up and walked away.

“Morning Daniel.”

“Good morning Nurse Darby.” He said, with a great deal of ease, in all honesty he felt remarkably comfortable in the woman’s presence.

“May I?” She reached her arms out, and Daniel easily handed Aleah off, glad for the child to let go of his ear.

“Certainly.” He replied, letting his arms relax, it was a long walk from his house to the base, and he didn’t have a vehicle, so he’d had to walk, and Aleah became very heavy along the way.

He felt someone watching him, and looked instantly realizing his mistake, tried to look away before the young girl noticed his glance and was too late.

“So why are you human now?” she began without missing a beat

“Ask Prime.”

“Do you still go by Megatron?”

“Daniel.”

“Why didn’t you shave today?”

He paused a moment, realizing that he hadn’t done so, then looked at her as if it was the strangest question ever, “Forgot.” He answered plainly, the girl seemed curious, and, warmonger though he was, he was a supporter of learning.

“How are you eyes so red?”

“I’m not a doctor. How should I know?”

“You’re pretty tall aren’t you?”

“Always have been.”

“Why did you keep the baby?”

He nearly answered, then stopped as he remembered who his audience was, no way in Pit was he going to fill in the blank, Prime wasn’t going to get the information that everyone was after, not at the whim of this girl, whose name he knew he had just heard, but could not for his life remember.

“That’s hardly any of your business. I’m not raising her to be an Autobot killer, if that’s what your concern is.”

“Just a question man.” She looked at him for a while, “You look way less creepy as a human.”

“I shall take that as a compliment.” He said, taking a seat on the stairs.

“Ratchet told me that English is way different from any of Cybertron’s languages, can you still speak any of them without your robo-voice?”

“Haven’t tried yet.”

“Could you try?”

“Not right now.”

“Why not?”

“Because Kaoni is the only language I know, and I won’t be able to speak it properly at present.”

“Why not?”

“Do you always talk so much?” He responded with his own, “If I find that I can use my first tongue, I will be sure to alert you to it.”

“Really?!”

“Why not.” He shrugged, tired of this conversation.

“You’re alright, for a Con.”

“‘For a Con?’ You know very little of the subject you’ve chosen.” He kept his voice low “I loved my home, and I never bore intent to kill Cybertron. I have spent the last fifty stellar cycles searching for a means of revitalizing it. Had I not traced energon to this world I may never have come here at all.”

“Did you think the energon would work?” She sat down, looking at him, clearly interested.

“My officers were on the verge of starving.” He replied shortly, “They were quiet about it, for which I was very proud of them, had I allowed them to offline from low fuel what sort of leader would I be? I was not planning to use the energon to bring back my home, I was gathering energon to save my own army.”

Miko looked utterly stunned, she had assumed that he was a monster, and had a handful of times found her hypothesis to be correct, but this side of the story… he sounded like Optimus, a good man, who cared about his troops, “That’s why you wanted the Dark E?”

“No, when I obtained Dark Energon, it was to create an army, strengthen myself and… admittedly, destroy the Autobots.”

“What was Cybertron like before the war?”

Once again, it was Daniel who was now caught by surprise, but after his initial shock subsided, he closed his eyes and smiled, leaning back.

“It was beautiful, even Kaon, the mining capital, home of the illegal gladiatorial arena, the moons shining through the Crystal Gardens of Iacon, every color you can think of, youngone, glistening around you, alive, like a floating spark, the Trine Towers of Vos, catching the suns at dawn, sending rainbows in every direction, waking the whole world in a single momentary glimpse of Primus’ grand design, even the acid pits of Kalos were a thing of beauty, and I cannot even begin to describe the feeling of flight through the great cities at dusk.”

As he spoke his voice became soft and passionate, his love for his home was deeper and more intimate that any love even Optimus had shown for the lost world. He used his hands to indicate arenas he spoke of, his words becoming choked, his chest swelling with pride as he remembered his home.

“You really did love it, didn’t you?” This was not Miko’s voice, but June’s, she had started listening when Daniel’s voice went from irritated to a passionate fondness.

“With all of my spark, a slave though I was, my world was my home and I wanted nothing more to make the world I lived on as beautiful as it looked like it should have been.”

“Why are you talking so much, and like this?”

“I have nothing left to fight for, now do I? Cybertron is beyond my reach, my army has scattered, I don’t even have my own frame anymore, friends have gone, the only bond clan I ever truly had deactivated ages before the war.”

And the whole base fell silent, apparently everyone had stopped to listen to Daniel describe the world he so dearly missed.

“I never would have thought you’d be a fan of the Gardens.” Ratchet said, his tone honest enough, and his optics focused on his work, hoping to move the subject back to one of memories, “I always had quite a love for them myself, met my bonded there when we were young.”

“Is that right?” Daniel looked over at the medic, didn’t like him, but was in a very good mood, “If I may ask, who was that bonded?”

“You ever hear of the weapons specialist, Ironhide?”

“Heard of him? That slagger nearly offlined me twice.”

“Oh Primus he wasn’t joking about that?” Ratchet laughed, it was strange, even for Daniel who had only twice seen the medic since Earth, he was often as grumpy as Starscream when grounded. 

Daniel rubbed his shoulder, recalling the fight, “Quite an interesting adversary.”

Ratchet chuckled to himself, “That he was.” Then he seemed to catch himself, and an idea of what was going, and he turned around and went back to his work.

There was a squeaking cry, almost a yelp, Daniel surprised himself at how quickly he was on his feet, looking around for the source, already knowing what it was.

“She’s fine, relax, shifted my arm wrong.”

“Ah.” He sat back down, not appreciating the glances he was now getting from the government human.

“So uh… Danny boy.” came the softer, but still somewhat harsh voice of the government human, his tone was somewhat apologetic, probably in response to the statement he had made at his last meeting with Daniel that had so nearly pushed the man over the edge.

“If you are referring to me, please refrain from using that … whatever it was.”

“Take it easy, trying to be nice.”

“I prefer when you’re yelling.” he smirked, “I’m more familiar with shouting. Orion Pax was a change I struggled to get used to in my youth.”

“Surprise, surprise.” The man seemed not to like Daniel, which was alright by both men, however, and it was at Optimus’ request, that Agent Fowler make the attempt to not be a complete and total skidplate as was his wont.

“A primitive thing, with a language such as this, you fail to understand the importance of a loud, vibrating shouting conversation. Unfortunately for you, I know no other way to describe it.”

“Spare me the compliment.”

“I have done so.” Daniel stood, approached June, surprisingly polite, asked to take Aleah back, bid farewell and left without another word.

“Well. I can say this, he has not changed much.” Optimus said, his tone somewhat humorous, an odd tint from his usual inspirational-no-matter-what-I’m-talking-about voice.


	9. TO THE LIBRARY

Daniel was not the best caretaker in the world, it was not a matter of negligence or cruelty, but he knew very little of human development, and was easily angered by the child’s strange behaviors.

It began when she learned she could make sounds that caught his attention, and kept it for great deals of time, he thought she was speaking in some Cybertronian dialect when she gave her first “Ahhhh,” and was sorely disappointed when she could not continue. 

After a brief conversation with the nurse, it was clear he would have to speak to his daughter, it felt strange and somehow right to call her that, and leave the television on when she was in the room, or a radio, so that she could get an idea of what her language would be. 

One cool morning there was a knock at the door, wearing a tired face, a plain white sleeveless and black shorts he opened the door, “Ah, Nurse Darby, this is quite a surprise.”

“Optimus said you haven’t been very active lately.”

“Optimus says many things, come in.” He held the door open for her and shut it when she had come in, “Give me a moment to change, I’ll be out, make yourself comfortable.”

“Thank you, Daniel.” She sat down as he headed to the bedroom, opening her purse she pulled out the newspaper she’d brought over, she had hoped to help him find a job, or maybe just ebb any boredom he’d probably have while Aleah was sleeping, he was surprised about how much sleep a human child needed.

There was a shrill cry, followed by a shout of surprise.

“No, quiet little spark.”

A squeal of protest.

“I said: quiet. That means you have to stop making noise.”

A second shout, followed by a brief collaboration of frustrated stammers, then:

“Be quiet, b-blanket!!”

A moment of silence, then a burst of laughter. “That’s not what I meant.” A tiny giggle, “Yes fine, but no more of that awful sound.”

June was staring in confusion at the door when he came back out, holding the little girl.

“What happened?” She asked.

“I think I called her a blanket and she tried to throw her blanket at me.”

June laughed now, “Don’t let her make a habit out of that.”

“I don’t plan to,” he chuckled, it was a good morning so far, “Imagine if I call her something dangerous.”

“A slave to your frustrations?”

“You have no idea.” he smiled, he had an oddly inviting smile, when he wasn’t trying to destroy everything that she cared about.

“Here I’ve brought you the news.”

“Oh? What for?”

“Well, I’ve assumed you aren’t the kind to accept being treated like an invalid.”

“Correct.”

“So you’ll need a job of some kind.”

He looked suddenly concerned, “If I am working, who will tend to Aleah?”

“There are all kinds of jobs, you could work from home, or somewhere that you can keep an eye on her, or let someone else babysit h-”

“No.” He said, getting up to grab something, “Would you like something to eat?”

“No, thank you.”

“What sort of occupations would allow for me to care for her myself?” he asked calmly, not shifting his arm, barely moving the little albino girl who watched him with eyes that matched his own perfectly.

“There aren’t many…” she admitted with some regret, “Perhaps… how do you feel about working with your hands?”

“I suppose I am comfortable enough.” He nodded, grabbing some applesauce from the fridge.

“You could probably make a work of handmade items, how’s your carving?”

Daniel laughed, “I can work with Cybertronian metals, I doubt there are any such materials on this world.”

“Probably not, no.” She giggled, “Hm… I’ll come by tomorrow.”

“Nurse Darby? I fear that Aleah has been growing bored with her surroundings, have you any suggestions?”

“Take her for a walk, or to a library, buy her some dolls or music toys, maybe a couple of movies, I’d suggest Disney.”

“Thank you.” He nodded as the woman smiled and left.

***

He had taken June’s advice, and taken Aleah into the small city, she had whined only a little, it was a cloudy day, so she wouldn’t get burned by the sunlight.

He didn’t know which building was the library, he hadn’t really taken up the art of literacy, he figured he would be able to translate based on images and appearance. 

He stepped in and saw a handful of children, older than Aleah, running around with puppets and toys and books, it was awful, and horribly loud.

The last library I was in was in Iacon, at it was not nearly so… 

Aleah squeaked at all the noise, and tried to look around. Daniel complied, but carefully, she was starting to figure out how to properly hold up her head, but he wasn’t quite ready to let her go parading around in such a lively environment. She cooed at him, it was beyond nonsense to his understanding, but she seemed to be looking at something, so he followed her glance and saw a strange device.

It was about two and a half feet long, as best he could tell without measuring it, and had six strings of metal tied on both ends to the top and lower section, each string thinner than the one above it, it was hollow, which he thought odd. He carefully set Aleah down and bent down by her.

“You want this?” he said softly to her, she blew some bubbles in response, “Well I hope that’s a ‘yes’.” ANd he set it down next to her, and held her up in a seated position, she slapped the body of the thing, and it made a pleasant echo, she struck it again, this time hitting the odd metal strings.

The twannngI that followed caught them both by surprise, but Aleah showed it more, she squeaked, looked at Daniel, as if not sure whether to cry or giggle.

He picked up the thing, “Well now, let’s see about this.” he picked at the strings, not fully sure how the thing worked, “It’s an instrument I believe,” he muttered to himself quietly, “Here, little one, this makes music.” He hit the strings all at once, and Aleah seemed to like the sound that came from the thing.

Daniel smiled lightly, music had never been his strong suit, but he appreciated it, and perhaps, with so little to do, he might learn this talent to please the tiny child.


	10. Distraction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Short but important, like my co-author

Chapter 10: Distraction

Some time had passed, a few months actually, Daniel hated to admit he was still trying to figure out what Aleah was doing half of the time, but he rarely asked for help, and only accepted if it was offered first. Fortunately, June Darby was very generous in her knowledge of child care. 

However, he found himself feeling rather abandoned of late, especially while Aleah slept, which, although was becoming a shorter tendency, she still slept quite a lot, he found himself wondering if he would ever return to his old body, human children grew quickly he was discovering, and “I think I should like to have my own body back before too long” he’d admitted to Nurse Darby one day while Aleah was sleeping soundly.

“Really? I thought you were getting on fine.”

“Appearances are not as they seem, Nurse Darby. Can you imagine, becoming so small and fragile after millions of stellar cycles of having become so familiar with your own body you can know if you are unwell even before symptoms set in?”

She shook her head “No, I can’t say I can imagine that.”

“It has been a very difficult transition.” He sighed, in June’s presence, he felt like a youth, as though he was expected to be fully honest, or at least to speak. A strange feeling, given that he was many, many times her age. He wasn’t sure why, but in his long life he had learned time and again that ignoring, or worse still, fighting such a gut feeling, usually ended in some form of pain or the death of someone he needed to keep around.

“Sounds like it… Well, maybe i can help ease your mind while you’re still getting used to things?”

“I don’t suppose why not, what did you have in mind?”

“I’d suggest finding some form of subtle expression, you know, draw something, or write whatever appeals to you, distract yourself for a little while.”

“I see. Do such activities aid in said distractions?”

“Generally speaking, yes. We use it as a therapy for a lot of our patients.” She smiled, “Oh! I’ve got to go, I’ll be gone for a while, Optimus is willing to help if you need it.”

“I do not require his assistance.”

“Of course not.” She left with an irritating smile.

He sat where he was for a while, before boredom took over and he started wandering his home. The short hall from the front of the house to his bedroom he had studied countless times, he knew every detail, even the splintery patch under the light swi-

“Ah!” He quickly pulled his hand back

That got his attention, it was precise, it was sharp and he couldn’t make himself think of anything else for several moments, Daniel had to admit, it was an impressive feat to distract his thoughts, even if they were strictly born of boredom. He watched in an odd kind of trance as the tiny puncture turned red and an insignificantly small bubble of blood poked out from the cut.

“hm…” he muttered, wiping it off on his pants and moving on, wishing really for something to more permanently distract him… He shook his hand, that tiny prick of discomfort had blown out into a mostly annoying source of miniscule pain.

It was almost foreign, that such a small stab could have cause his whole body pain, Scraplets created a sensation like this, but they were much larger and attacked in swarms and bit multiple times. This was… different…  
What had he been thinking about a moment ago? He’d been suddenly knocked off his train of thought by the assault.

“How very… distracting…” he mumbled, chuckling at the ridiculous thought. He might have gone to lay down for a bit, if Aleah hadn’t started crying again.


	11. The Triumphant Return

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the slow update, it's been a crazy month. A little short but here it is!

Daniel wished he could pretend he didn’t recognize the roar of that engine as it flew overhead around midnight, waking Aleah who began to cry, not understanding what the awful noise was.

He wished even more that knowing the source of the sound had not given him such an intense desire to go outside and actually speak with the traitor who would certainly have no end to his amusement at the sight of his master in this form.

But even the strongest wishes are often undone by something as pitiable as loneliness. For Primus’ sake when the jet noticed the human watching so jealously, of course it landed to brag of its superiority.

Starscream did not recognize the great Megatron yet, and for that the man was glad, for a short moment he even allowed Starscream to taunt his inferior flesh and mechanisms. Before he’d had enough and growled at the seeker, in something that sounded somewhat like the Kaoni he’d been unable to use before this moment

“You disgust me Starscream, if you so desperately believed that your leadership of the Decepticons was so greater than my own, then why, pray tell, have you not destroyed the Autobots in my absence.”

The seeker froze and stared for a moment, the language a bit garbled from human vocal chords, “Megatron?” at first he seemed to try and beg for mercy, but then what he was seeing caught up with him and he laughed coldly “How beautifully ironic!”

 

“I could still damage you, you over glorified toaster oven.”

“Over glorified what?” he actually paused, looking pretty upset that he didn’t recognize the term, assuming it was something seekers shouldn’t bother themselves with he straightened, readjusted his wings and smirked “And what is that you’re holding, o mighty leader”

Daniel’s eyes went a bit wide, glad again that Starscream hadn’t seemed to notice that, he’d forgotten he was holding Aleah, she had fallen back asleep and was being so quiet.

“Oh, my poor stupid second in command, you wouldn’t believe me if I explained in Vosnian.”

At this he took great offense and stepped dangerously close. Small and fragile as Daniel knew he was, he still did not make himself appear intimidated, knowing that it would only give the self privileged flightframe something to gloat about, which was terribly annoying no matter who he was triumphing over. 

“Begone Starscream, I have things to attend to your miserable excuse for a processor could never begin to comprehend.” Daniel asserted, he’d had enough of this wretched conversation, and, for the first time since arriving, he wanted nothing more than to return to the shelter of his earthly dwelling.

That deep, low prideful chuckle. Damned if he didn't know it well by now. Starscream had a plan, probably dangerous, definitely stupid and without a shadow of a doubt, annoying and inconvenient.

Before he could so much as turn to berate the thin mech, Starscream, wearing a fatal smirk plucked the man off the ground and took off, throwing Daniel and the now woken child into the cockpit and speeding over the land before finally shooting straight up into the sky.

Well slag. This couldn’t have gone worse if Orion had choreographed it.

The ground fell away rapidly and Daniel realized how desperately he had missed flight. It was hardly a second before he recalled that humans could not fly. This was brought to mind by the terrified screaming of Aleah. The unexpected and unfamiliar noise actually startled Starscream so badly he went into a violent tailspin for several long minutes. When he finally managed to level out about a hundred feet up Daniel barked to be released immediately or “suffer the consequences” the threat sounded empty enough given the inferiority of his current body but with his hand knowingly resting atop the spark chamber’S outer casing.

The seeker stopped midair and landed smoothly. Allowing the man to climb out before transforming again unto his robot mode. “what the Pit was that?”

“put simply: none of your business.”

“Oh fine then, be a child why don’t you? I’ll just assure that it stays out of my way~” he picked the man up with his long, talon-like digits.

If only he had been able to control himself for just another second. On some protective coding he pulled Aleah all the closer to his chest to avoid dropping her, pulling her directly into Starscream’s optic line. 

 

 

Well frag.


	12. Oops

So, since writing the last chapter I've had a bit of a falling out ith my co-author, all this means is that I'm writing on my own now. I found the story about half an hour ago and read the comments and it really inspired me to continue writing, so I'm going to go through my previous chapters and move forward


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